Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – The Fours – The 400m Hills of England

 

Castle Common (SS 709 392) 

There has been a Significant Name Change that is retrospective to a hill that is listed in the The Fours – The 400m Hills of England, with the summit height, col height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from LIDAR analysis initially conducted by Aled Williams and subsequently by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Castle Common (SS 709 392)

The criteria for the list that this name change applies to are:

The Fours – The 400m Hills of England.  English hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop, accompanying the main list are three categories of sub hills, these are the 400m Sub-Fours, the 390m Sub-Fours and the 390m Double Sub-Fours.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and the 2^nd edition of the booklet containing this list was published by Mapping Mountains Publications on the 24^th April 2018.

The Fours - The 400m Hills of England by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams

The hill is adjoined to the Dunkery Beacon group of hills, which are situated in the counties of Somerset and Devon, and it is positioned with a minor road to its north-west and immediate south, the B3358 road to its north and the A399 road farther to its west, and has the small community of Simonsbath towards the east.

When the listing that is now known as The Fours – The 400m Hills of Engalnd was originally compiled this hill appeared under the name of Shoulsbarrow Common; a name that appears on the northern side of the ridge fence on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, and this was also the name it appeared as when the list was uploaded to the RHB Yahoo group file database. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map

Since the original compilation of this list there have been a number of maps made available online.  Some of these are historic such as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website.  Whilst others were digitally updated such as the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local that was hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the interactive mapping on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites, and it is the series of Ordnance Survey Six-Inch maps in conjunction with the position of the summit spot height on the Ordnance Survey mapping that appeared on the Geograph website that formed the basis of the change in the listed name of this hill. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps

The Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps formed the base map Ordnance Survey used for many decades leading to the production of the 1:10,000 Series of maps, both have now been superseded by the digitised Master Map.  The series of Six-Inch maps are excellent for name placement and especially so compared to the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, and it is the series of Six-Inch maps that confirm that Shoulsbarrow Common is land on the northern side of the ridge fence and Castle Common is land on its southern side.  With the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map giving the summit spot height on the southern side of the ridge fence.  Consequently, this hill appeared under the name of Castle Common when the 1^st edition of The Fours was published by Europeaklist in December 2013. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps

However, it was not until LIDAR became available that the summit position of this hill could be accurately re-assessed.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height data that is now freely available for much of England and Wales, resulting in LIDAR analysis confirming the summit of this hill to be on the southern side of the ridge fence. 

LIDAR summit image of Castle Common (SS 709 392)

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in The Fours - The 400m Hills of England is Castle Common and this was derived from the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps, with the summit position confirmed via LIDAR analysis.

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Dunkery Beacon

Name:  Castle Common

Previously Listed Name:  Shoulsbarrow Common 

OS 1:50,000 map:  180

Summit Height:  476.1m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SS 70978 39271 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  443.4m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SS 71869 39028 (LIDAR)

Drop:  32.7m (LIDAR)

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (February 2024)